Merck divests non-core units
Nutriblend nutritional supplements business to Israeli-American
joint venture LycoRed Natural Products Industries, producer of the
natural tomato lycopene complex Lycomato.
German pharmaceutical and chemicals company Merck is to sell its Nutriblend nutritional supplements business to Israeli-American joint venture LycoRed Natural Products Industries, producer of the natural tomato lycopene complex Lycomato.
The company announced this week, without disclosing details of the agreement, that the divestiture will include two business lines. The nutritional systems business of formulation, manufacturing and packaging of vitamins and minerals for enriching foods, and the vitamins, minerals and supplements trading business that purchases, distributes and sells individual compounds to the nutrition and food markets.
According to Merck, all employees will remain with Nutriblend, which is based in Rochester, UK.
Commenting on the sale, Merck's head of life science products division Dr. Bernd Reckmann said: "As Merck's Life Science Products division continues to focus more on products and services for the pharmaceutical industry, nutritional products are no longer a core business."
LycoRed chief executive officer Morris Zelkha added:"The product mix of Nutriblend and its location in the UK make it a perfect fit with our product portfolio and our strategic plans for Europe."
Merck has said it will toll-manufacture selected premixes for Nutriblend at its Darmstadt facilities and Merck's subsidiaries in Spain and Poland will continue to distribute products for Nutriblend.
Nutriblend has annual sales of between €10 million and €15 million.
